Intensifying the internal power struggle within the Joint Opposition, JO Parliamentarian Kumara Welgama hit out at his party colleague Gamini Lokuge saying the latter was responsible for burning down the Jaffna library.

Kumara Welgama

“A person who went to a school would never burn down a library,” Welgama said speaking to media on the current tug-of-war among JO members over the Presidential candidate of the alliance. Welgama has said in no uncertain terms that he will not support the candidacy of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the latter does not possess a “democratic mindset”.

Lokuge, a senior Parliamentarian of the Joint Opposition, is a supporter of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s candidacy.

Welgama also launched a veiled attack on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa saying there were “two types of people” around him.

On One side, there are people whose lands are tainted with blood. On the other side, there are people who destroyed the statue of Bandaranaike, who stripped our party activists naked and slapped our electorate organizers in the presence of senior Pollice officers. They also mercilessly assaulted Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera and Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra in public. Do I really have to talk further about their conduct?” Welgama asked, referring to his party colleague Lokuge.

“It is due to their conduct in Jaffna,” Welgama said, “the LTTE terrorism escalated and former President Rajapaksa had to spend so many years fighting the war.”

Lokuge, a long-standing member of the UNP, crossed over to the UPFA during the Rajapaksa presidency.